SIGN NO. 9

Like all later albums from this German band this one is a quite mediocre album though still a very nice one. I used to prefer it all the times to "Age of Madness". Once in a while every few years it still finds its way to my player. Nice melodic (at times harder) melodic rock but in terms of prog nothing special at all! From the point of musicianship Klaus Hess and his band mates were always flawless, just the vocals could have been better!

Only a collector's item to complete their discography!

And then they were three. Manfred Wieczorke has now left the band and Klaus Hess is holding the keys on top of his guitar work. It is definitely a loss even if Manfred did not stay long with "Jane".

The opener is still a good hard-rocking piece of music and "That's The Way" returns to their psychedelic themes of their debut and therefore sounds outdated in this 1979 release. It fully sounds as the very early "Floyd". A bit harder in the second part with a great guitar and heavy keys. It is my fave on this album. A highlight, frankly.

Bizarrely, "Love Can't Wait" sounds as a song from the great "Lou Reed". Same type of vocals (really very close), heavy riff and strong guitar again (but Hess has been used us to this). A bit to much extended probably but quite decent.

The time is not on the epic side any longer. Only one track over six minutes (the opener and title track). One of the shortest is "Henry Goes Married". It started as an uninspired instrumental and mellow piece of music but turned into a better category when the Floydian guitar enters the scene. Not great, but not bad by any means.

The first weak track is "Say Hello". Vocals are pretty bad and the whole track falls pretty deep. Even Hess's guitar work won't save it. The type of "press next" song, if you see what I mean.

I like pretty much "Moonstone". A harder version of "A Writer Shade Of Pale" in its initial phase (with the guitar replacing the organ). This song is frankly excellent even if the production is not top notch to say the least. I am just found of these guitar sounds. Another very good song. Fantastic riff, really and a must listen for each guitar fan.

"Love On Earth" is not a great song, that's for sure. Vocals are pretty weird. It's the second low point of this album because the next "Letter To Mariann" is on a better edge. Again, a fantastic guitar play. This characteristic truely holds this album in a good territory. And even if the closing song has nothing to do with a highlight, the guitar and the instrumental parts are very good.

I don't find this album so weak after all. Far much better than "Jane III" (their weakest so far IMO). Since I rated that one with two stars, this "Sign N°9" deserves three stars on my musical scale.

Jane 1979 - exit keys man Manfred Weiczorke, enter keys man Klaus Hess ?? What ? Yes, Jane lost their wonderful former-ELOY keyboardist, and lead-guitarist/founder Hess took on all keyboard duties for this 'Sign No. 9' release. And he is serviceable, to say the least. I think Manfred left all his gear behind because it sounds like the same set-up (Organ, String synth and Mini-Moog). Here we have a typical, melodic hard-rock album with the distinctive Jane sound, nicely done for sure - heavily riff-laden songs abound, but any progressive inventions are kept in check ; actually, a good game to play whilst listening to this is 'spot the prog bit' - ooh there's one, umm, there's another......but on the whole, it's far from a poor album, perhaps just undemanding. The production is very late-70's (duh), somewhat tinny and thin - the bass of Martin Hesse sounds crisp, Peter Panka's drums have a very natural quality to them, and Hess offers up generous doses of searing guitar solos (in his inimitable bluesy fashion) and crunching rhythmic chords. Also of note, the album's last few tracks become more acoustic guitar dominated. All three members sing, there are two good instrumental tracks ('Henry Goes Married' and 'Letter to Mariann') and it all comes wrapped up in this fetching Toucan artwork. Highlights are the songs Sign No. 9, Moonstone and Letter to Mariann. A fair 3 star effort.